Bank withdraws auction notice for Sunny Deol’s bungalow; Cong asks why
The actor, who is a BJP MP, has failed to repay a loan of ₹55.99 crore to the bank, and has been in default since December 2022
One day after issuing an auction notice for the Juhu bungalow of Sunny Deol, actor and BJP MP, Bank of Baroda withdrew it in a statement on Monday (August 21).
Bank of Baroda issued a statement on Monday (August 21) saying, “Corrigendum to e-auction notice with regards to sale auction notice in respect of Mr Ajay Singh Deol alias Mr Sunny Deol stands withdrawn due to technical reasons."
The Congress on Monday (August 21) raised questions about the Bank of Baroda reportedly withdrawing the e-auction notice for the Juhu bungalow of BJP MP Sunny Deol, asking who triggered the "technical reasons" for the withdrawal.
In a post on X (formerly twitter), Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "Yesterday afternoon the nation got to know that Bank of Baroda had put up the Juhu residence of BJP MP Sunny Deol for e-auction since he has not paid up ₹56 crore owed to the Bank. This morning, in less than 24 hours, the nation has got to know that the Bank of Baroda has withdrawn the auction notice due to 'technical reasons'. Wonder who triggered these 'technical reasons'?" he said.
The state-owned Bank of Baroda had put on the block a property owned by the actor to recover ₹56 crore through an e-auction to be held on August 25. The Gurdaspur MP, whose latest movie Gaddar 2 is a box office success having already grossed over ₹300 crore since the release last week, has been in default on a ₹55.99 crore loan from the bank and interest and penalty, since December 2022, the second-largest state-owned lender said in a public tender on Sunday (August 20).
However, the auction notice for the bungalow has been withdrawn, media reports said on Monday (August 21). The actor is officially known as Ajay Singh Dharmendra Deol and has been representing the ruling BJP from the Punjab seat since 2019 when he won the seat with a big margin defeating the then Congress member Sunil Jhakar.
On Sunday (August 20), the bank had said that the auction would begin at ₹51.43 crore, and that the minimum bid amount was set at ₹5.14 crore.
It appears that the bank also intended to auction off the almost-600 sq mt land on which are situated the bungalow Sunny Villa, and Sunny Sounds, a company owned by the Deol family. Sunny Sounds was the corporate guarantor for the loan, and Sunny’s father, Dharmendra, was the personal guarantor.
The notice that the bank issued on Sunday (August 20) also mentioned that the borrowers could still repay the outstanding loan and prevent the auction from being held.
(With inputs from agencies)
